


Caged Wings

by infernalmidnight



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, Heterochromia, M/M, Multi, Supernatural Elements, Titans, Wings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 07:28:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24347260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infernalmidnight/pseuds/infernalmidnight
Summary: During and expedition outside of the Trost Borough the Corps come across Eren and Mikasa who decided to assist the group during a heavy swarm of strix, beastly man eating creature currently plaguing the human race that now has to hide behind walls to survive. After seeking out the siblings once more, the two find themselves in the last place they ever thought they would be, back inside one of the walls and helping a race they don't entirely trust all in the hopes of achieving the same goal of ridding the world of strix. New information and past wounds come to light during their efforts against the seemingly growing attacks and numbers of the creatures that only serve to leave more questions than answers.
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Erwin Smith, Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir, Levi/Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman/Jean Kirstein, Reiner Braun/Bertolt Hoover/Annie Leonhart, Reiner Braun/Bertolt Hoover/Eren Yeager
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	1. Meetings

Eren’s body thrummed with energy as he landed lightly on the balls of his bare feet atop the rough bark of the high tree branch. His body quickly settled and his green and gold eyes easily tracked the movement below as he watched the jetting wires and listened to the hiss as it pulled the wearers forward. It had been months since he had seen such a familiar sight of the flyers outside one of their rings of walls scattered everywhere.

It was comforting to no longer be alone with the monstrous strix that seemed to swarm no matter how far his wings took him. Strix, in Eren’s opinion, were the most vile creatures to have surfaced in the world. They were beastly with taloned fingers and clawed toes. Each were only second sharpest when compared to the excessive rows of serrated teeth that filled their over sized jaws. The pure white of their whole eyes added to the notion of them being nothing but mindless killing machines; well that and the fact almost none were ever seen without splatters of crusted blood across their abnormal bodies forever formed in a hunch with their leathered grey skin drawn taut over their skeleton.

Even now he felt bad for being selfish in wanting to see the humans he and his family once lived among as their sharp swords (the only thing other than Eren and his sister that seemed to be able to cut into the beastly flesh) slashed through the creatures swarming far below his feet. He couldn’t help each time the group ventured out as they pulled forth vague memories of what it was like being around others before his family had to retreat to the equally unsafe wilderness. Both places seemed to only take from him.

His brows furrowed as his lips turned in a slight frown as he easily dropped to a lower branch. The group looked to be reaching their limit and a few had already fallen to the snarling pit of teeth and talons that only seemed to increase in number. The others he had been drawing to him the past few hours were starting to appear from his stagnant position and smell of freshly spilled blood. The light shake of the branch pulled him for his focused worry and turned his attention to who he knew would be waiting.

“Eren,” Mikasa hissed in a hushed voice, just loud enough to pierce through the commotion below. “Leave them, we can’t be getting close.” Her ravened wings pulled close to her back with only the tops of them being seen over her shoulders.

“It’s a _culling_ , Mika. They shouldn’t have stumbled on this, it’s our fault.”

Periodically he and Mikasa would spend a night forming what they had labeled as a culling where they would draw most of the strix in their area if the number had started to rise too high for their liking and then spend the night picking them off. It was unfortunate that the flyers had stumbled upon the group when it was small, believing it would be easy to kill off only for it to have seemingly never ending growth. Mikasa’s arrival would only bring more of them.

“We can’t leave them with our mess.” Eren’s voice had a heavy finality to it and the hard set look in his duel colored eyes only showed he wasn’t going to waver.

Mikasa frowned with a glance down at the mess. More wires show into the surrounding trees as some of the strix had finally lost interest in the humans with both siblings now present. Eren knew Mikasa’s reservations towards the humans and she honestly had merit for her dislike and mild hatred. But over the years of living on their own, even she had started to at least agree with the few humans that ventured out of their safety bubbles of walls to fight the amassing waves of the strix.

Eren remained steeled, his gaze never drifting from his sister even as more huffed breaths, hissing of wires, screams, and snarls turned his insides. Humans were more breakable if they came in contact with the beasts and the wires could only get them so far away and from past observation they could only work so long and their blades could only take so much of the searing blood that coated them.

Finally, he received a sigh as she turned her attention back to him.

“Once the last strix is dead, we leave. No talking to them, no answering questions, no healing. We act as if they aren’t there.” It was the best Eren was going to get from her, but he was thankful.

He welcomed the familiar feeling of the thickened cartilage underneath his skin from his armpits down to his hips that encompassed the whole of his front and back began to shift and pull to just passed his shoulder blades. The slits of scarred skin split as the cartilage pushed its way out and through the long slit holes in the back of his shirt. Golden white wings gave a small spread, the feathers softening to smooth plumage that was no longer hardened and folded in on itself. He felt comfortably complete.

Both gave a small nod in agreement at the sudden sound of a loud snarl as they descended from the tree top.

Once on the ground, the siblings began to make quick work of a cluster of incoming strix as they avoided launched wires and swing blades. Claws grew in place of their fingernails and the top and bottom set of canine teeth elongated to sharp fangs. Their softened wings turned to layers of hardened shards that moved in fluid motion with their quick movements.

The grey, leathered skin ripped beneath the siblings’ claws, their wings providing a barrier for anything they weren’t quick enough to get to. It was a larger group than they had intended to gather, but the metallic smell of splattered human blood was enough to draw a frenzy. Eren wasn’t sure how many of beast and human were left, but knew their arrival had served enough to draw attention and allow for the humans to breath.

“The hell?” a harsh voice practically growled from behind with enough force to pull Eren from his engrossed attention to the strix his claws had sunken into the back of the neck of. A guttural screech escaped their mangled maws as Eren yanked back the flesh and bone connecting the head to the body. It was the quickest way for the bodies to crumple and allow the toxic blood to finally eat through the flesh it was encased in, leaving nothing but a sickly steaming pile of stuff that couldn’t even be considered a body any more. Not that they really were in the first place.

“Wings, Levi, wings!” Another voice practically squealed in what Eren could only consider to be excitement to some unseen person. He wasn’t sure how anyone could be in such a mood given the current circumstance.

Mikasa gave a low growl when Eren stupidly missed an easy target that came mere inches to his body. Her light glow that formed a halo around her irises showed him the harsh glare for his sloppiness of one single strix. But she was right, now was not the time to be distracted by the few humans that held his fascination.

Any other words shared between the remaining flyers were lost on deaf ears as Mikasa and Eren worked in tandem in what appeared to be a whirlwind of black and golden white as the waves slowly dwindled. A few times he would catch sight of one of the flyers with a mess of black hair and swinging of dull blades he still forced through the skin. This was a flyer he had seen countless times before with the way he practically flew through the air with invisible wings instead of wires.

Everything began to stand still when the last strix crumpled beneath his clawed hand. What was left of the group of flyers skirted around the siblings and allowed enough of a bubble for breath as their claws and fangs retracted and their wings returned to the soft plumage. Mikasa was quick to claim Eren’s hand in her’s, ignoring the faint sting of drying blood squished between their palms. No one seemed to know what to do now as they watched each other besides Mikasa who was trying to pull his attention away from the group. Eren couldn’t remember the last time that he was close to humans without all the animalistic snarling.

“Eren,” Mikasa hissed with another hard tug of his hand with a small expanse of her wings.

“Wait!” A woman covered in a decent spread of blood and watched with smeared glasses. Her sudden voice and step forward was only answered with a low growl from Mikasa and fanned slightly sharpened wings from Eren protectively between the woman and his sister.

“Shitty glasses,” the wingless flyer warned with an equally defensive stance.

“But Levi, look at them!” she exclaimed in a whine, glancing between the two.

“Eren,” Mikasa pulled again, eyes not leaving the two flyers, “we helped like you wanted, now let's _go_.” This time Eren didn’t have enough time to refuse as he was quickly yanked upwards and could only react by using his own wings when his hand was released. He took one last look at the group, thankful that it seemed the majority of the group was still intact and took off after his sister.


	2. Decisions

Levi honestly had thought that today was the day that he was going to have to inform Erwin that Hange was no longer among the living during their trip back. After what turned into a literal shit storm of a simple outing by being ambushed by easily 50 strix, there had been more casualties than originally thought there would be when first leaving, but, ultimately, less than there should have been in the end because of the assistance of the mysterious winged duo that seemed to have actually wanted to help. Well, one of them at least, the girl looked as if she couldn’t care less if they had been left for dead.

At first Levi thought he would get lucky and Shitty Glasses might just keel over on the spot from the overload of information her psychotic brain was trying to process. Sadly, he was stuck with the hour it took to get back to Trost with her incessant ramblings. Periodically he thought he got lucky with a distance strix spotting to serve as some distraction from the word vomit, but sadly it was only his hopeful imagination. No doubt the local population of beasts had been heavily depleted from the earlier festivities. It wasn’t like anyone really had the gear left for it anyways.

Now he was really pushing his limits with his arms loosely crossed as he relaxed into the annoyingly familiar chair with a less than amused expression. Erwin, on the other hand, watched him with mild amusement during their wait for the official expedition report to commence. At least the few minutes provided a nice reprieve of silence.

“Wings!” Levi practically growled at his stewing bubble of silence being popped by the door opening wide behind him and inviting in the last person he currently had the mind power to deal with. 

“Excuse me?” Erwin asked at the sudden exclamation. Levi, on the other hand, had listened to the single word repeatedly as it seemed like the only word she was capable of using to express whatever her thoughts were compiling on the situation.

Admittedly, Levi had also been stunned by the winged humans. Both elegant and deadly with a chilling precision that made it evident they were accustomed to the situation, even if they did appear to be young. Everything about the two was odd and left him more annoyed when they just up and left, literally. 

“Mr. Grumpy Pants didn’t spill?” Hange asked with an arched eyebrow. Levi just gave an indifferent shrug when both looked at him. He didn’t exactly think he was the one needing to speak on the matter and he was fairly certain anything that came out of his mouth currently would only lead to aggravation. “Well,” she began with an unsettling grin, “our trip was very enlightening! Though it started off rather messy when we stumbled upon a group of 20 or so strix, when more began to gather two...individuals we’ll call them, came down and assisted us when more of the strix kept showing up. Sadly all of the creatures were dead by the end and I wasn’t able to capture one like I had hoped,” she noted with a genuine frown, but was quick to perk up, “I did get a good look at their wings and honestly they were fascinating!” Levi scowled at yet another assault to his eardrums.

“Wings,” Erwin repeated with more certainty.

“From what I could tell when I had enough time to watch them, it seemed like they were able to change the structure of them and harden them like a shield or weapon when threatened.” So she hadn’t missed that last little display when she had thought it was actually a good idea to approach them. “It was just two of them, but they seemed equipped to handle the strix. The direct contact with the blood didn’t seem to cause them any irritation and it also seemed like the strix claws weren’t able to easily rip their skin.” Now that she mentioned it, the two didn’t look like they had many scratches on them.

“So these two winged individuals come to your rescue at a notably weird, larger than normal gathering of strix, assist with little difficulty, and then promptly leave?” Erwin surmised.

“Well there did seem in a bit of a disagreement over the actual leaving,” Hange noted to which Levi gave a small scoff. Both turn to look at his sudden decision for input.

“What, the brat practically got dragged away after a scolding,” he recalled. “Didn’t help when you thought it was a good idea to actually approach the two,” he tacked.

“Wait,” Erwin interrupted their own squabble before Hange could continue. “When you say disagreement, were they speaking with one another?” The question had Hange practically gushing.

“I was just about to get to the best part! They spoke English! I think they might have lived in one of the Boroughs before, judging by the age of their clothes, or they sneak in to get them. Not that it would be hard what with the flying,” she mused.

The wheels in Erwin’s head seemed to be turning, much to Levi’s discomfort of recognizing his plotting face. Levi knew what this meant. There were others outside the wall, granted with major differences, that were also equipped for the strix, but also seemed to be somewhat familiar with humans. It was potential for at least some type of lead for the growing concern of their current situation of the continuing numbers of mass groups of strix and the increase in wall attacks.

“How likely do you think it would be to find the two again?” Erwin finally asked which received an eye roll from Levi as an answer.

“What, Eyebrows?” Levi questioned at the arch of one of the caterpillars adorning Erwin’s face. “We’ve never once seen them before one any of the trips we’ve had outside, but they sure as hell seemed to know about us. It means they’ve been watching and only felt the need to assist when our asses were getting handed to us on what seemed to be a whim. I’m guessing they aren’t exactly waiting around for us to have a nice little chat.”

The others paused at his words. Neither were naive enough to believe it would be an easy ordeal to have another meeting with the pair or the time to wait to see if they would be lucky enough for a chance meeting that they hadn’t even been expecting the first time.

“You said their clothes looked like they had to be from one of the Boroughs, correct?” Erwin looked to Hange.

“Their clothes couldn’t have come from the outside unless there’s a settlement with more like them somewhere, but they looked similar to ours.” Hange confirmed.

“Similar?” He paused over the word.

“Well, like the civilian clothes, but older fashioned and faded, and no shoes.” It didn’t surprise Levi that she had analyzed everything down to their clothes and lack of footwear. Given their wings and where they lived, Levi doubted they had a need to really walk anyways anyways.

“Could they be staying at Shiganshina?” Erwin questioned for either to answer.

Shiganshina used to be the closest Borough to Trost just beyond the other side of the forest they had just come from. Normally Boroughs had at least a hundred miles between them to avoid mass gatherings of strix with the amount of humans around. Travel between the different Boroughs was achieved by underground tunnels used for civilians with only certain numbers allowed during specific times as well as supply transport, if approved by the council of chancellors representing each Borough. Shiganshina, however, was the first Borough created when the strix first surfaced among humanity 500 years prior, but wasn’t able to keep with the increasing swells because of the way it was constructed with unknown knowledge and ultimately finally fell 100 years ago. No one had bothered to try to reclaim it for its architectural risks and the Corps (most commonly the ones stationed in Trost) made the rare few trips out to it, while maintaining a safe distance from the walls, to see strix still lingering even though there was nothing left of interest to them. It had been a mass casualty instant and many preferred not to dwell on the biggest loss to humanity since the fall to proper civilization.

“It’s possible for them to find clothes there that hadn’t yet deteriorated, and with its proximity to Trost it could explain their appearance today. They could have cleared out an area in the Borough or even be staying in one of the stations left on top of the wall with whoever else they might potentially be with. It would be the most reasonable space for them to be staying if their goal is to avoid humans, but close enough to keep tabs on society which could explain the language. But that’s just speculation,” Hange rambled the possibilities, now vibrating with excitement.

“If you think it's possible…” Levi narrowed his gaze at the man, not like where Erwin’s mind was going, “We could plan for a small search group to go out in a month. They might have some answers to our growing issues of wall breaches and swarms. Maria has already reported a large swell in external attacks and prominent damage done to their wall. We don’t need another Borough to collapse and take another hit in our already limited population.” Levi could only huff at the stated plan. There wouldn’t be any talking Erwin out of it and he had the ability to push any excavation plan through which meant Levi had a month to prepare to see the brats again. And he begrudgingly admitted that Eyebrows might not be entirely wrong in wanting any answers the two might be able to provide.


	3. Unease

To little surprise, Erwin had gotten permission for the trip to Shiganshina on the grounds that it had been around 20 years since the last time and the higher ups didn’t pay much mind to the request otherwise. And with the small group consisting mostly of Levi’s personal squad and the addition of Hange and Moblit, the supplies were easy to gather for the trip. The new recruits that had only arrived days prior had all been left behind, yet to be assigned to their respective squads.

The current atmosphere as they rode seemed tense, however, and Levi couldn’t quite blame them. When the mission had been approved three weeks prior and the select few informed of the trip to Shiganshina, it had been decided select details of the why be withheld until the trip was underway. Levi wasn’t stupid enough to think that his team trusted the same blanket answer of needing to recheck the Borough after decades of no one visiting that the counsel had. Everyone in the present group had been there when the two had appeared so it wasn’t as if they would be surprised to see people with wings. The problem was everyone's uncertainty with them.

After the meeting with Erwin had taken place and everyone had started to calm from the loss of some of the comrades, there had been private discussion among the group about what they had seen. They were smart enough to keep the information from those that hadn’t been present and only gave vague explanations about what transpired, but that didn’t mean they were more at ease with their two saviors.

There had been a growing split opinion on if the two could even be trusted and wouldn’t just appear again to finish them off. Of course Petra had loudly voiced her opinion and pointed out that if they wanted them dead then they wouldn’t have helped in the first place and it was, in fact, their goal to help as stated by the less than pleasant girl to her counter part. Oluo, on the other hand, was more than okay with seeing the two killed with the statement that they were only more of a threat than the strix were specifically because of their intelligence and it was nothing more than a ruse to catch them off guard later. The others seemed to be caught between the two polar opinions. Levi couldn’t be bothered with it all and the only satisfying answer to all the bickering would come from the two themselves. That was if they could even be found.

By the time they reached the forest Levi figured that the group had put enough distance between them and Trost to start discussing the real purpose and that no one would turn tail. No one in their right mind would attempt to cover the large open land between the Borough and the forest by themselves as it was easy picking for the strix without a way to escape. Well, if they weren’t idiots they wouldn’t.

“From here on,” Levi spoke as he slowed the horse, “there will be a group of two up in the trees at all times.” Levi’s scowl deepened at the shared glances. “Since you all aren’t complete idiots, you should know that it is related to our trip to Shiganshina.” At least that got them to settle. “We’re going to be looking for the two winged there in hopes of getting some answers and, all things depending, maybe even having some assistance from them as decided by Erwin.”The mention of the nickname that had been developed for the two instantly caught the group’s attention and the statement that followed was met with mixed emotion.

“You can’t be serious,” Oluo voiced. “They’re just two different beasts that we have no information on and you want us risking our lives just for the potential of finding them?” he all but growled.

“Listen here,” Levi said with a cooled voice, “we are going to try and find them because they might have some information why everything has been increasingly going to shit lately. If you hadn’t noticed there have been more attacks both at the walls and within all of the Boroughs. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather try to get information from people that seem especially equipped to take these things down than continue to wait around and become a chew toy. Now, if anyone has a problem with the plan you’re more than welcome to fight your way back to the Trost, but the rest of us are going to Shiganshina.” Levi’s narrowed steeled gaze sent a deathly chill through the group and Hange holding a similar, but a slightly more excited, firm expression. She had her moments when needed.

Most were quick to lower their gaze with subtle nods in agreement. There had been suspicion that this was the goal of the trip all along when it was announced, but no one had pushed to get the answer they weren’t sure they wanted. Eld and Gunther had passed the idea between themselves after Eld had voiced his curiosity about the two and Gunther had to admit he wished they had gotten more answers upon the first encounter.

“Now get your asses moving,” was Levi’s deciding statement when no one voiced another opposition or turned away.

* * *

Eren was absolutely and positively _bored_.

Mikasa had opted for a hunting trip into the Knell and see if there were a few rabbits left to pick from. They didn’t have to eat as regularly, about a week at a time in between a rabbit or two for each of them, but over the few decades since they had returned to the edge of the thick forest they had once called home had lost most animals that had yet to be picked off by the strix. Animals weren’t the beasts favorite things to eat and they didn't like the Knell forest, but the ones that refused to abandon their nest in the skeleton of Shiganshina had adapted to what was available to them. And the competition for food was becoming bloodier, but the other forest that split Shiganshina from the other Boroughs wasn’t an option for food hunting; only a good place to blow off steam and watch the flyers.

He couldn’t blame Mikasa for having to leave him behind. For whatever reason animals weren’t exactly fans of Eren for as long as he could remember and even _they_ didn’t have an exact explanation as to why. It just came with his class, _they_ said. Even the thought of _them_ had Eren scowling. But, thankfully, Mikasa was of the warrior class as shown by her ebony wings and the light glow that surrounded her eyes when fully shifted. Both gave her a strong stealth and swiftness that Eren was never able to quite match; so, by process of elimination, made her the one to retrieve food even if neither really liked being separated for so long.

Still, he didn’t like being left to the wall like a helpless child. Him sitting with his knees pulled to his chest, wings lazily folded around him, and pouting as he watched towards the Boroughs didn’t exactly help his case. Admittedly he could wander through Shiganshina, see if there was something that they had yet to discover about their fallen city in some hidden nook, but the midday sun was something he enjoyed basking in with his wings unfurled and brushing against the soft billow of breeze that would roll through the trees on occasion. So maybe it wasn’t all bad to be left to the wall, but he was still bored in his sun bathing.

Eren unfolded his closed off body, stretching his legs out in front of him and spreading his wings out behind to allow him to rest back against his hands. He gave a relaxed sigh with his eyes closing in an attempt to calm his unsettled nerves. Another reason he hadn’t liked being left behind for the hunting trip was his body was buzzing with unease. It was a common enough feeling from over the decades to know something was amiss about the day, but had refused to let Mikasa in on the issue because she would have insisted they both remain at the wall in their makeshift home till they learned what his instincts were trying to warn them of even if he knew the feeling wasn’t something of a threat. In recent years the feeling only occurred when there was a random surge with the strix that collected in Shiganshina and served more of a heads up, but it was still annoying to deal with as it felt like small buzzing sparks just beneath his skin. It was different to how he felt when something was actually wrong.

What didn’t help and caught his off guard was when the annoying buzz suddenly turned to a live wire and his ears perked at the distant sound of hissing steel.

“Why are they here?” The low growl of Mikasa’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. He’d been too hyper focused on those approaching for his senses to notice that she had landed, a few rabbits in hand.

“I had a feeling before you left, but I just thought it was another pack of strix so I didn't push too hard about you going on your own,” he admitted quietly, not bothering to break eye contact on the forest to meet her glare.

“ _Eren_ ,” she practically hissed. “You know when-” he cut her off.

“It wasn’t like what happens when _they’re_ around, that’s why I didn’t say anything and thought it was the strix. It didn’t feel all that threatening, just mildly aware of the fact.” He corrected his prior explanation. He knew his body well enough when something was an actual threat, even if he had been fooled before.

“We should still go,” Mikasa decided, reaching for his hand.

“I think we should talk to them, they might be able to help.”

“They’re just another set of humans, of people that will want to use us,” Mikasa snapped.

“Then we use them in return, we can’t keep running,” he stated rather flatly, finally taking a small glance at her. “I know you don’t like this, but they’re capable of taking down strix and have the numbers that we just don’t. We don’t have the luxury of avoidance anymore.” And that was an understatement.

“I still don’t like it.” The resignation of her voice was enough of a confirmation for him as the siblings watched the flyers break through the shroud of trees.


	4. Deals

Needless to say, seeing the two winged standing atop the crumbling, decrepit wall, knowingly watching down at them was not what Levi had been expecting. Hell, he wasn’t even expecting to find the brats, but yet here they were as if they decided to wait. It didn’t sit well with him. Thankfully, though, at least the strix had yet to catch on to their small group and Levi was hoping it stayed that way.

Levi scowled when the two continued on a conversation out of hearing range atop the distant wall with occasional looks and gestures toward them from what could be made out. “Are the shitty brats going to come down or what?” he questioned to no one in specific. When the two turned their gaze on him, however, a pit settled in his stomach.

“I think they heard you even from all the way up there!” Hange exclaimed in awe. “I wonder if every other aspect of them is as sharp as their hearing! And their bodies! I wonder if their bone density is light and hollowed like a bird’s to accommodate for flight or if the abnormality of their wing structures can accommodate for human weight?” She began rambling as the lot of them watched the others spread their wings and swiftly jump from the wall top in a similar way to a bird gliding to land with a few faint movements to slow their descent.

When both of them finally landed with a breath of distance from his squad, Levi was able to take in a better account of their appearances than last time when they had been thoroughly coated in strix blood. The boy, Eren he believed he’d been called, wasn’t the most unpleasant thing that Levi had been forced to look at with messily kept chocolate brown waves and softly tanned skin that almost seemed to have the same faint gold glow that his snowy white wings did. What was truly striking was the boy’s eyes. He was fairly certain the last time he had seen him both had glowed a molten gold that almost seemed to burn with fire. But now one had faded to the glow of a pale gold, no longer burning but still mesmerizing in itself; the other, however, had changed entirely to a color neither green or blue and speckled with flecks of golden amber as if fighting to maintain the previous fire it had.

The girl, Mikasa, on the other hand seemed to lack any of the fiery warmth. She was paler and sharper in looks that weren’t obscured by the same red scarf (now cleaned of the gloppy rust colored strix blood) that she had worn during their previous encounter. Her eyes, surprisingly similar to his own, were a gunmetal silver and like the brat’s seem to have also faded from their glowing, molten state and were now only held a harsh coldness as she looked the group over.

Both of them were still going without shoes and Levi didn’t want to imagine just how dirty their feet must have been. Or think about the fact that both of them barely looked to be 18.

Seemingly with neither of their wings in that weird hardened state or flared in defense plus the lack of claws and fangs, they weren’t exactly looking for a fight. Which, in all honesty, was a good thing because no one was sure that their gear would work on them if it came down to it. The two barely had a scratch from the strix, what was there to go on that their blades would work any better. He tried not to dwell on that particular fact that Hange oh so graciously mentioned from time to time in her speculation. That was one of the few things Levi left to only think about when the problem arose.

“What are you doing out here?” Eren questioned, a wary gaze sifting over the group, not sure who to settle on. Sure they had stuck around and come down to talk without (much) prompting, but it didn’t mean they fully trusted Levi and his squad.

“Came to talk brat,” Levi spoke up, now gaining both of their attention. “Last month we didn’t really get any answers when you both just up and left.” _Literally_.

“We helped you, we don’t have to answer anything,” Mikasa growled, which promptly was met with a quick glare from Eren and she cooled. Still it was enough to have Oluo and the others on guard, hands twitching at the thought of grabbing the hilts of their blades.

“Are you in charge of this group of flyers?” Ere questioned instead with his eyes lingering on the blades.

 _Flyers_? Is that really what the brats know us as? Just where had these kids come from? The questions clouded his thoughts before gathering his focus back.

“Yeah, I am, so start talking.” Eren’s gaze now narrowed and refocused on Levi at the snarky response. He already had to argue with Mikasa to convince her to at least come talk to the humans and here this guy was, acting all self important and just asking for Mikasa to rip his spin out through his throat. Eren had seen her do it enough times to the strix, it wouldn’t be all that hard and there were less claws to worry about.

“That’s not the way to go about asking people for favors when we were kind enough to stick around,” Eren countered with his own scowl.

 _So they had decided to be found_ , Levi noted with his earlier suspicions confirmed. What didn’t help was Eren was acting like an utter brat, the lighthearted attempt from their first encounter being muddied by his being an ass.

“Why’d you bother to not fuck off this time?” Levi decided to go with as response. Maybe not the most self preserving mindset in the moment, but like hell Levi was going to let these two shits act as they please. And Eren was most definitely not getting under Levi’s skin. The small movements of both of their wings pushed the group over the edge and they grabbed at their swords.

So maybe Levi had let the brat get to him a little.

“What shorty here meant to say,” Hange quickly jumped in to deescalate the growing tension, not without getting a glare for the reference (but also accompanied by two small amused smirks) “was that we just wanted to talk to you both about the strix and information you might be able to provide that we can’t quite figure out and that we’re glad you decided to stick around and give us a chance and maybe, _even possibly come back to Trost with us,_ ” she rambled, squeaking out the last part, but seemed to be a statement they were more respective to (at least most of it that is).

Leave it to Hange to keep them all from getting slaughtered for Levi’s lack in a way with words. Or make her miss the chance to get up and personal in all their weirdness. Probably more for the latter than anything.

“The strix are complicated,” he responded hesitantly as an uncertain gaze went across the group. When that seemed to be all Eren willing to comment, it only served to annoy Levi more.

“Care to enlighten us, brat?” With a deadpan expression, the answer appeared to be a resounding no.

“What if you came back to Trost with us and explain to our commander, Erwin, all the complicated stuff with Levi and myself and our second in command Mike? Then, maybe the Survey Corps could help out and you could even tell us a little about yourselves?” Hange offered, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice. Eren and Mikasa shared a long glance and the subtle movements of their lips almost appeared as if they were speaking, but, at least to Levi, no sounds could be heard. When they finally seemed to come to some sort of decision, they looked back at Hange, though Mikasa seemed as if she was actually trying to ignore his presence where Eren at least spared him a quick (curious?) look.

“Why should we go back with you? People can be…” Levi wasn’t exactly sure he wanted to know what the end of that sentence was leading to. He knew the look well enough. “We could offer you housing and food that doesn’t have to be hunted,” so Hange had also seen the few rabbits that Mikasa had been kind enough to leave atop the wall, “and whatever else, within reason.” She nodded, though mostly to herself. “Though, you might have to stay at our base because of your wings, we wouldn’t exactly want the public or MPs finding out about you guys.” With the quiet growls from both of them at the mention of “MPs” he felt himself give the smallest of smirks. At least they weren’t completely clueless to the shit stain of a government branch and had some form of knowledge about the Boroughs. The rest of the group shifted uneasy at the inhuman sounds (except Hange who only seemed more intrigued).

“Our wings won’t be a problem.” Now that had everyone confused which brought Eren his own amused, smug smirk that Levi wanted to get rid of. Though he all but forgot about the brat’s cocky expression when he watched the admittedly beautiful golden white wings begin to shift from soft, feather like plumage and all but shrink in on themselves and turn to a thinner, almost translucent crystal looking structure of who knows what and then, literally, retreat back before being fully out of eyesight.

“ _Eren_ ,” Mikasa finally hissed at the boy’s oversharing display. Eren just waved her off. The mixed signals of trust and questioning were really starting to stress Levi out.

“Oh. My. God!” Hange screeched only to be restrained by both Levi and Moblit as well as be blocked from Eren with a now very evidently pissed off Mikasa and her creepily sharpened feathers and elongated claws. Instead of being deterred by the display, Hange only marveled more. “Can you do it too? Can I please see it again?!” The outburst was at least enough to catch Mikasa off guard and wipe the seemingly permanent glowering bitch face off which Levi found himself mildly enjoying. And if Shitty Glasses happened to get maimed in the process, what was he to do about it?

Mikasa shifted her weight almost awkwardly with her arms now crossed over her chest and face birdies in her scarf.

“No,” she eventually mumbles into the red fabric. Hange’s eyebrows furrowed and all but whined when the girl didn’t continue. When Eren eventually gave a small, approving nod to Mikasa to continue she sighed. “Eren’s… complicated.” No one in the group seemed to appreciate the same explanation that had been used for the strix to describe Eren. Eren just scowled at her with crossed arms, but didn’t appear to be any more forthcoming.

The more the two gave half answers the more Levi was growing unsettled about the situation. It was beginning to seem almost too easy for the two to be convinced to follow them back to Trost.

“Just know Mika can hide her wings well enough, but you can’t watch,” was the definitive answer Eren gave to save the girl some embarrassment from having to talk about it. “And we’ll go with you, on conditions. But we won’t talk to you about anything until we get to your...base,” Eren said after a pause for the word, “and not without the other two people you mentioned. Only you four. And if MPs or Chancellors catch wind of us, we’re out.” The finality to the statement and Eren’s eyes once again locked on Levi’s with a steeled coldness, smothering the previous sparks, sent a chill to Levi’s core. They might be brats, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less dangerous or lacking in knowledge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter was a bit of filler but I needed to connect them going back to Trost within reason, give a bit more information about Eren and Mikasa, and start setting up relations between them all. I know the Levi squad didn't have much involvement in the chapter, but any time I tried to include them in the discussion it got a jumbled but still needed them to be there to make it seem reasonable for them to travel outside. I hope that you all still like the chapter even if its a bit long and feels like not much really happened. Next chapter should hopefully be a bit more interesting and get the story really moving. Hope you all enjoy!


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